City 2 City

Okay. So as I said in the introduction, this is the first Sunday of the month, which means it's the mix. And, you've never been to 1 of these services before, what we do is we try to do shorter chunks of teaching interspersed with kind of songs and prayers. We try to mix it up a little bit on this first Sunday. So that's what we're gonna do.

And, today, we are coming to the last major stop of the second missionary journey that we find in the book of acts, and that we're gonna be focusing on calls time in corinth. And as we begin, I want to ask if you can for you to think of a time in your life when you were really, really scared when you were terrified. If you can't, if you can think back to a time when you felt really really scared. It might be it was something like this. Let's see if we can get this working and turn it on.

Something like this. Maybe you were sat in a waiting room. About to receive some news. You didn't know what it was gonna be. Maybe you'd had some, tests done or a scanned on your way can be quite frightening.

What is the doctor gonna say? Maybe it was something like that. Or maybe it was a moment like this. You'd hand in your CV is an ideal dream job that you've got ahead of you, but you've gotta go through this interview process first and you come into the interview room, you close the door behind you, and you take your seat in front of this panel. It can be pretty nerve wracking, can't it?

Or maybe it's something even smaller Like this, you wake up in the morning, you go into the bathroom, as you might normally do, and you might see something in front of you. I think it's the next picture actually. 1 of those. Yeah. Have you ever seen that?

Horrible, isn't it? I don't know how you react to things like that. Maybe something like that. Maybe you hate little creepy crawlies and insects. Whenever you see 1, you just clam up.

Yeah. And you get afraid and you start to sweat and your hands are shaking. You're crying out to whoever else might be at the house to come and help you cope with this little harmless insect, which can do nothing to you. For me, it's things like this. I hate noises in the night.

Okay? You know, when you're lying asleep, you're trying to get to bed and you you swear that somebody is creeping around downstairs. You can hear sort of the creak of the hinges on the doors. Sounds like little steps moving downstairs is frightening, isn't it? I remember in 1 of our old flats.

We were trying to sleep and we were hearing all kinds of noises downstairs. And, there was 1 evening. I was, I was just convinced that there was somebody down there moving around, and so I picked up this stick that I happen to have in the bedroom, and then what I was gonna do with it was 1 of those ones that you can twist blinds with, you know, 1 of those. So not a very sort of strong thing. And, I was going downstairs, and I was trying to be as subtle as I could in order find this burglar who who may or may not be there.

And Laura, of course, was panicking about my safety as I went downstairs and she was saying, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, and I was trying to be stealthy. You know, so you don't you don't wanna say I'm fine, you know, because I give away my position and obviously turned out there was nobody nobody there at all. But in those moments, you you know what it's like. Your senses are heightened. Your mouth goes dry, your hands are shaking.

That kind of fear, is about the most unpleasant emotion that we we face. And I don't know about you, but when I read the apostle Paul and I read of his life, the things that he did. That kind of fear is not something that I normally associate with him. In my mind, Paul is a bit like a kind of panzer tank. You know, he's just rolling around through Europe and Asia getting battered by all kinds of opposition, but he just will plow on through minefield after minefield dealing with whatever comes his way, whatever opposition he faces, nothing can phase him.

So surely, when we get right to the end of this second missionary journey, nothing could phase him. Is gonna faze him now. He's seen it all. What would he have to be afraid of? But look what he says to the Corinthians about how he felt when he was coming to them.

I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him fight. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. It's amazing, isn't it? He'd just come from Athens. He was on the way to Corinth, and on that journey, he says he came in great fear and trembling.

Now why after all that he has been through, did the great apostle come to any town with fear and trembling. Well, because corinth was no small village with a picturesque synagogue and acquaintable way of life, it was a huge proud city that was full of idols. It was a leading light in the Roman empire. It was sandwiched between 2 ports, which made it a center of trade You can see where corinth is there right in the middle of these 2 seaports. They had money.

They had prosperity. They had all the power that comes with money and prosperity as well. This was a big intimidating city. Athens, which we looked at last month, had approximately 10000 people living there at this time. Ephasis, another big city, had half a million, but at its height, Corinth had 3 quarters of a million people living sandwiched between those 2 ports, but they were also famous for their sin.

For 500 years, there was a Greek word to Carinthianize, and it meant be sexually immoral. If you were to corinthianize, it meant you were in the act of sexual immorality. In fact, to be a corinthian was a slang word for a prostitute. You called a woman a Corinthian. It meant she was a prostitute because they had that reputation Legend has it that every evening, a thousand religious prostitutes would descend from the temples in the mountains come to fill the city with their business.

A thousand prostitutes coming down the hills every single evening. Homosexuality was an dreamly common occurrence and thing in this in this part of the world. So on the surface, you can see Paul is approaching this place and he must have been thinking there's no there's no hope for the gospel as Paul is coming here on his own He must have felt that he was coming straight into the lion's den. What difference could 1 man full of weakness with his little message, mate. What difference could he make in this huge proud, immoral, rich, established city.

And for us, living on the edge of London is not is not hard to sympathize with how he must have felt. I came to you with weakness, with great fear, and trembling. Amazing, isn't it? And yet in this mix, we are gonna see how the Holy Spirit worked to encourage Paul to give him courage for his we're gonna see how the Holy Spirit moved in all kinds of amazing ways to fill him with confidence and fresh faith so he could go about bringing this message even to a city like Corinth. And it begins this encouragement in a very unusual way.

It doesn't begin with an evangelist rally leading to 20000 conversions. That would be good, wouldn't it? It'd show you were starting to make your mark in the city. It doesn't kind of begin with an audience with the top policy of the town who could make things a little bit easier for him. It begins with a couple of new friends with some friends.

And as we know from the book of acts, friendship is something Paul really, really valued. Companyons like Timothy and Silas who would walk with him, travel with him, suffer with him, preach with him, sit and eat with him. They were vital. They were vital. That kind of companionship And so when they're not around, which at the moment they're not, you might remember he left them in Berea in act 17.

He he left them there. Even then when he's on his own, he doesn't wanna be a lone ranger. He really doesn't wanna be a lone ranger. He needs friends in ministry. He wants companions to encourage him.

And so with that, let me introduce you to Priscilla and Aquila After this, Paul left Athens and went to corinth. There, he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontas, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudia had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them and because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Now to be honest, I know these these verses don't say an awful lot about the nature of friendship and how they became friends, but we know from the rest of the Bible how deeply significant this meeting was. Firstly, they were Jews, so they under stood Paul's culture.

They understood it. In verse 26 of acts 18, we're told that they are able to explain the ways of god very clearly. So we don't know when Priscilla and Aquila were converted, but we know they shared passion for Paul's gospel. They shared a passion for his message. At the end of Romans, Paul says this about them.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus. They were from Rome, remember. They risked their lives for me, not only I, but all the churches of the gentiles are grateful to them. See, they were friends who were born for adversity. They were willing to sacrifice everything.

They were even willing to risk their lives for the sake of Paul and his gospel and for the sake of Jesus Christ. They would sacrifice it all. At the end of 1 Corinthians Paul says this about them, he always signs off with a little reference to them, it seems. The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the lord.

And so does the church that meets at their house. See? They were so committed to the work of the gospel. They weren't only willing to risk their lives. They were happy to host a little church plant in their home.

We'd give up all the comforts of their own home to have a church in there. They would come At the end of 2 Timothy, Paul simply says this, Greek priscilla and aquila, which in itself isn't much to go on, really. But when you consider that at this stage in Paul's life, he was saying things like everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me. It becomes significant because it shows that Priscilla and aquila weren't part of that group. They never deserted him.

Never. Even when apparently more loyal gifted companions did leave him, they never deserted They risked their lives for the gospel. They opened their home for the church. They never ever deserted the apostle Paul. So this little meeting in acts 18 in 1 sense, there are better passages to go to for a sermon on friendship.

But when you put the pieces together, you can see how important this meeting was. He had come to corinth, trembling and afraid but the lord undertook for him and introduced him to some lifelong friends who would be a a source of endless encouragement for him. And it's amazing how god still uses in friendships in that way, isn't it? To keep us going? When we stand together on the brink of London, which is over 10 times the size of corinth.

We might wonder how on earth it can be reached. When we feel helpless against the tide of secular decisions, which seem always more strong. We might be scared to take a stand, but in those discouraging times, it's church family, which restores us Church family is what gives us courage and faith for our ministry. We're in it together. We're in it together.

Paul didn't wanna go alone. He wanted at least a small group so they could stand on the brink of corinth say we're in it, we're locking arms, we're in it together. That's how Paul received encouragement from the lord when he came to this and after a song, the band are gonna come up. We're gonna sing another song. We are going to find out exactly how this friendship began to develop.

So we're gonna stand and we're gonna sing, come and stand before your maker, full of wonder, full of fear. Right? So we've seen that, Paul and Priscilla and Aquila had a great deal in common. It had a great deal in common. But there's 1 thing that I that I actually left out from mentioning, and it's in verse 2 of acts chapter 18 on the screen.

There, he met a June named Aquila, and a native of pontus who had recently come from Italy with his look, wife Priscilla, because Claudia had ordered all Jews to leave Rome and Paul went to see them. And because he was a tent maker, as they were, he stayed and he worked with them. What are the chances? Right? Jews away from home, sharing a love of the message and tentmakers and tentmakers.

And every sabbath, verse 4, he reasoned synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. So this was this was Paul's week. Okay? Sunday to Friday, 9 to 5. Tent making.

On the Sabbath, gospel preaching, tent making and gospel preaching. Now in this part of the world, I imagine tent making is a dying art. Most of it, I think it's probably done by machines, and the truth is in this part of the world for lots of people staying in a tent is trauma enough, let alone giving your life to actually making 1. But if you were in this part of the world and you were into it, this was a great city to be in. From here, they could export their tents all over the world.

This was the place to make money if you were a tent maker. Okay? It was a good place to be. I was watching a clip from, good morning Britain this week. And, on it, they had 1 of the is just finished on this, what I, you know, I guess you can call it a program called Love Island.

And, believe it or not, that show can be seriously good for your bank bank balance. So in this clip, they were saying that Danny, who apparently, has just won it, now has 1900000.0 followers on Instagram and companies will pay her up to 5000 pounds for every image she posts their products in it. 5000 pounds for 1 image. So all you have to do is take 3 selfies a week in the right gear and you've earned yourself 15000 quid. Now selfie takes a fraction of a second to take.

So I don't know what the hourly rate is there. But it's pretty good, isn't it? Now in our part of the world, that's how you can make big money quickly. The downside is you have to go on a program like love island in order to actually get there, but in Paul's Day, a tent maker in corinth, that was the place to make money. That was the place could export your tents to the world.

But here's a question. Okay? Why did he have this job? Isn't it just isn't this just a waste of time? He could have been preaching every day.

Couldn't he? Nine's 5. Could've been preaching. Why didn't he use his time more spiritual than tent making. Couldn't he have done that?

Well, no, actually, this decision was very spiritual. Here's a verse, different city, but same principle that helps us to understand what he did. Surely you remember brothers and sisters, our oil and hardship, we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preach the gospel of God you, see? He worked 2 jobs because he didn't want to be a financial burdened to this young church. Now the reality is he had every right to be paid for his gospel work.

He had every right says it very clearly in 1 Corinthians to this church. Have a look. He says the lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. It's 1 of my favorite verses in the Bible. That he the law you can't get it any clearer, can you?

The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. So you see Paul had every right to gain a living from the gospel work. But he was willing to give up that right because he didn't want people to feel that he was a burden to them. He did it for the gospel, but also he didn't want to give the impression that the gospel has a price tag that the gospel's gonna cost you. Have a look what he says again to 1 Corinthians on the screen.

What then is my reward, just this, that in preaching the gospel, I may offer it free of charge. And so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. See? The grace of God in Jesus Christ is a free gift to everyone who will believe. And Paul didn't want to imply with his life that that free gift actually comes with a price tag.

It's like when you get an offer, buy 1, get 1 free. Yeah? But only on Tuesdays, the cheapest 1 that's free. Not the most expensive 1. It comes with these catches.

Yeah? He didn't want any catches in his message. And this was really important to him particularly in new territory. When he was working with established churches, He had no problem asking for gifts and for support, but in a new place, he didn't wanna give the impression that saving grace is gonna burn a hole in your wallet. So that's why he did it.

He was very virtual. It's not a waste of time. Why did Paul have 2 jobs so as not to be a burden, but also to teach with his word and with his life that the gospel is free of charge, tent maker and gospel preacher That's why he did it. But the other thing you notice here is that even in his tent making, his ambitions were always gospel ambitions. That was what swallowed him up the gospel.

Have a look what he says, a bit later on. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. He gave up every sabbath he went to do that. And then when silas and Timothy did come from Macedonia Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. So as soon as these 2 turned up with some support, which we know they did from 2 Corinthians, they came in order to bring him support so he could devote himself exclusively to preaching the gospel.

Now, not everyone could do that. You see Priscilla and Aquila, they didn't do that. They were tent makers and we presume they carried on making tents and gave up as much time as they could for the gospel. And not everybody would want to do what Paul did devoting himself exclusively to preaching the gospel. But the point is in every stage of his life, 2 jobs or 1 job, his ambitions were gossed ambitions.

That's what took him up. And in order to help us understand that a bit more or it may well confused things, to be honest. We're going to have a game. Okay? It's very exciting.

So what I need is 2 volunteers. Okay? 2 volunteers for this game, and I've got no problem choosing people if you're not gonna. Okay. Maybe this might encourage you slightly Nathan.

You wanna come up? Pete's suffering could be a bit of a mismatch. Anybody else? What about a brotherly rival? Yeah.

Do you wanna come up right? Okay. Here's what you gotta do. Interview has got a bag. Okay?

And in this bag are 15 colored cups, 15 colored cups, and also there is an envelope with a message in it. Okay? And what you have gotta do on this table, which we're gonna move forward, is build a test or we're just gonna use our imaginations. Okay? Build a cup stack.

You know, a cup stack? Yeah. Build it up. And once you've completed your job, you've a run with your message up each side of the room. And, and then you're gonna be the side.

You'll have to give it to Miriam, and Nathan, you're gonna have to give it to who's at the back there in the white. I'm sorry. I don't know your name. What's your name? Emily.

Okay. Right. K? Right. So 15 15 cuts.

You've gotta build up your stack. Make sure that make sure the make sure the tent is completed properly and then run with your message to the end of the room and then you guys, when you get the message, you've got to undo the envelope and read out what is inside and the first person to do that. Will win these haribo gold bears. Okay? Should we give them the countdown?

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Go go go. Come on. You can't. Oh, dear.

You gotta use all the cups, all the cups. Look at that. Yay. Hey, did Doug you up? Yeah.

Yay. He's 1 day good, brother. Nathan come back. Come up here. Aidan, it's over mate.

Yeah. No, forget it. Okay. Well, no, guys Nathan, what did that message say? Jesus Christ's lord and savior, Nathan come on stage and receive your prize.

There we go, everybody, the winner. But because because this is 20 18 and we have no losers in games these days, everyone's a winner Aiden hears the suite for you. Yeah? We don't want any we don't want any losers anymore, do we in life? Everybody's a winner.

No such thing as a loser. Okay? There we go. Well done. Now let's see if we can tie that back in.

Yes. Okay. In in that game, alright, the the job of cup stacking had to be done properly. Alright? You couldn't be sloppy with the cups.

It mattered how you did the job. And that is a true principle. Whatever job we have in life we should go about it with a whole heart. Work is full of dignity from god. It's a gift from god and it should be treasured.

But in this game and in the passage, there was a more consuming passion and that was the gospel message. Getting the message out. You see, you don't get the impression that Paul wanted to make a name in the tent making world. He was driven by the gospel. Now, looking life is certainly not wrong to work hard and to do the very best we can do.

That is a god honoring attitude, but we must always ask what what is it that is really driving me? Well as my goals do I have great, big, gospel ambitions for my life? Great big gospel ambitions which shape how I view work, how I view everything ambitions which drive me on. Are we taken up whatever we're doing. We're doing it well and properly for god's glory, but we're swallowed up by this ambition.

We daydream about how we can use our lives for the gospel. That's what Paul did. He was a tent maker, yeah, but he made tents so that he could serve the lord and be a gospel preacher. That's what he wanted to do. Now have a look at this quote from JC Ryal.

He's an old Bishop of Liverpool, and he describes it like this, reflecting on this Oh, there we go. Time for a hopefully helpful game. The Zealous man or woman only sees 1 thing. He cares for 1 thing. He lives for 1 thing.

He is swallowed up in 1 thing. And that 1 thing is to please God. Whether he lives or whether he dies, whether he has health or whether he has sickness, whether he is rich or whether he is poor, whether he pleases man or whether he gives offense, whether he is thought wise or whether he is thought foolish, whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise, whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame, for all this, the Zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for 1 thing, and that 1 thing is to ease god and to advance his glory. You see, I bet Paul loved his tent making.

I bet he took great delight in his tent making, but he made tents so he could best serve the church and the gospel. He was swallowed up by that passion. And the question is, are we? Are we? Does that reflect us as well?

We're gonna stand and sing another song, and I think Paul, if he were here, would sing this with us. It has the lyrics in it, I long for nothing else as long as you are glorified. I long for nothing else as long as you are glorified. Let's stand and sing together. I take from your hand your blessings.

Yet not welcome. Shall I thank you for days of sunshine? On rain. Shall I love you in times of plenty? Then leave you in days of drought.

Shall I trust when I read by harvest, but when winter winds blow, then down. Oh, latch your will be done and be in your You good only when I a true only when I'm you king only when You got true, You still raining for deepest fighting. You're still Okay. Please sit down. So Paul is now full time, in his preaching and teaching.

He's got the support he needs to do that. And, as we've seen in almost every mix, whenever Paul gets going in a new place, there's fireworks. Okay? So have a look at what happens in verse 5 to 8. When silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah, but when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his closed in protest and said to them, your blood be on your own heads.

I'm innocent of it. From now on, I will go to the gentiles. Really familiar ground, isn't it? Not all of the Jews were like Priscilla and Aquila. The ones who were still steeped in religion and hypocrisy opposed him to his face.

Later on, in verse 12, they drag him before the authorities trying to prove that he's a law breaker. Everywhere he goes, they try to shut him up. And in response to that, he now says something quite profound. From now on, I will go to the gentiles. From now on, I'm gonna go to the gentile us.

Now that doesn't rule out Jewish evangelism in the future because in verse 19, He goes to the synagogue in ephesus, goes straight to the synagogue. And it doesn't mean that gentiles weren't evangelized before this time because he just come from Athens, remember. But for these Jews here in corinth, that's it now. They've had their unity. They thrown it back in his face, and so now he will turn his attention to the ours.

And that proved to be an amazingly fruitful decision. Every time opposition tries to close a door on him, the Holy Spirit opens several new doors for him to go and preach the gospel. Isn't that how the lord encourages us still? He gives us good friends to partner with and he also opens all kinds unexpected doors just when they seem closed. Have a look what happens here.

Then, Paul left the agogue and went next door to the House of Tittiest Justice, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the lord, and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. So after being rejected by the Jews, where should he go? Do you think? Where should he go?

Where could he have his next base? Where could he plant his work? Well, how about next door in the house of a gentile? Amazing, isn't it? And although it's quite funny to imagine the synagogue here and Paul next door worshiping together, I think this would have been really sad for him.

2 buildings side by side. The Jews in 1, the Christians in the other. Nothing could express the division more clearly. And it still exists today. To 1 group, Jesus' a liar, fema.

He's not the Messiah, but to the other, he is the Messiah. He is the savior of mankind, and it must have been heartbreaking for Paul to be reminded every time he approached these buildings, that his people were cutting themselves off from the god of their fathers. And yet in that grief, There also would have been tears of joy because many of the Corinthians verse 8 heard believed and were baptized. Ironically, even even the synagogue leader, the Jew of Jews, and his family were saying so there was hope for them after all. So you see, when Paul came to corinth, he was nervous, he came with great fear and trembling but god came alongside him to encourage him.

Not only with friends to partner with him, but also with new open doors and allowing him to see the success of the gospel once again. And now what we're going to do is have Paul Simpson up and he's gonna come and lead us in prayer. And 1 of the things that he is gonna be praying for is open doors and success for the gospel as it goes out. He here in Kingston. Okay.

So, as ever, we've seen mixed responses to the gospel. Some have been good. Other's not so good. And and it's a it's a little bit strange what happens next really because although there has been quite a lot of fruit in corinth, which holds told that many Corinthians have believed and were baptized. It seems like Paul was still pretty worried and quite scared about being in corinth.

Was he was he nervous that the Jews would really start to turn up the heat on his ministry and increase their persecution even though there have been people saved out of the culture, was he just feeling demoralized at the state of the world around him and how far people were from god and from his word. We don't know why he still felt so nervous, but either way us steps in again in order to encourage him. For the third time he brings an encouragement. Let's, let's see. 1 night the lord spoke to Paul in a vision.

Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. For I am with you, and no 1 is going to attack and harm you because I have many people in this city. Now, sellotaped to the bottom of 5 chairs in this room is an envelope.

And I just want you to reach down and see if you've got 1 underneath your chair. And if you have, I want you to stand up, read it out in order. I e there'll be a number 1 and number 2 and number 3 and number 4 and number 5. Okay? So if you've got 1 and you can stand up There's a few empty seats, so I hope no one's sat in the empty seats.

Okay? Okay. Let's just hold on hold on 2. How many have we how many have we got? Kelly, you up?

We've got 1 at the back 2, 3. Should be another 2. Yeah. And 1 over there. Okay.

So there was a number. Oh, maybe it's maybe it's on a hidden seat. Are you under that 1? Come on. Let's get the last 1.

No? Okay, never mind. Alright. Well, what we're gonna do is just read it out in the order you've got it then. There's a number 1, 2, 3, 4, first.

Sorry. K? That's you? Brilliant. Okay.

Now you will get a suite for no other reason than you happen to be sitting in the right check. Katherine, you can give it away if you want. There you go. Sorry, ma'am. They're quite heavy.

They're lollipops, so be careful. Yeah. Don't know if I wanna go that far really, to be honest. Should we have a go? It's being redecorated anyway, isn't it?

That was pretty good. Eunice? Oh, not bad, was it? The right row this. Okay.

There we go. So there we go, sweets just because you happen to sit, and I must stress that this has no bearing on your actual election, okay, before god. Yeah. Where are you sat there? But of course, when you came this morning, okay, when you came into this room, you had no way of knowing that we would that we would play a game like that.

Okay? Unless you hear very early and you saw me doing it. And you had no way of knowing who those people were where they would be sitting, what jobs they would be doing, what was gonna be said in those envelopes. You had no idea they were there, but they were always there waiting to be revealed at the right time. In Corinth, Paul had no way of knowing who would come how fruitful his ministry would be, but the Lord said to him, don't be quiet.

Keep going. No 1 is going to attack you. They might shout, they might rage, they might drag you to the authorities, but ultimately they won't stop you and are have many people in this city waiting to hear and believe the gospel. You don't know who they are, you don't know where they live, you don't know what jobs they do, you don't know what part city they're currently in, but in this city are people I have chosen to be adopted into my family So open your mouth in faith and watch them come. And actually, this is even more glorious than just individuals.

This actually refers to peoples. I have many peoples, many people groups in this city. That's why I put nationalities on the cards to remind us that, he's talking about different peoples. So what an encouragement this must have been for Paul? You will be perfect safe until all those appointed to eternal life have come to Jesus Christ in city.

You see, 1 of the objections to the doctrine of predestination, which in part is what we have here, is that it stops evangelism What's the point in us sharing the gospel if god already has people in this city and he knows who's gonna believe? What's the point in us doing anything? But of course, we don't know who those people are doing. God does, but we don't know, and so we make a free offer to all people. When Peter quoted the prophet Joel in acts 2, He said this.

Everyone, everyone. It's pretty all inclusive, isn't it? It's pretty inclusive. Everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved. Even though Jesus said, I know my sheep and my sheep he also said, come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you best.

And so today, that's what we do. We make a free offer to all people whoever you are, whatever you've done wherever you're from come to Jesus. Take the opportunity. You can come to him and we make that free offer trusting that god will use it in all of its weakness to call his people. This does not discourage us.

It encourages us to get the word out just like Paul did. And we know that's how he took it. We know that's how he took it. Look what he did next. So Paul stayed in corinth for a year and a half teaching the word of god.

Now 18 months for him is like a serious commitment. K? He's a bit like my generation millennials. If you do anything for 18 months, like, wow, you're committed, deeply committed. Yeah?

That's what he was like. He stayed there for 18 months and for the whole time, he kept on teaching. Now, why did he do that? Why did he teach? Why didn't he just sort of wait in till everyone had come in.

If God has chosen them after all, then won't they come in with or without Paul? Why does he need to work so hard in teaching If god has already chosen them, no. No. God has not just chosen his people. He's chosen the means of bringing his people to faith, the teaching of the word of god.

Not only did he know who his people were in the city, he knew exactly he was gonna call them through the ordinary teaching and preaching of god's word. The lord Jesus said my sheep know my voice. And so if we are to see people come to the shepherd, we must open the word of the shepherd so they can actually hear his voice. I think this is I think this is real exciting with a new term ahead of us. We're in August, September's coming, and let's pray that in the schools, and at the uni, and in our workplaces, and among the internationals, among the peoples, there would be those the lord has chosen and that we would have opportunities with them.

Let's not become silent by the state of our culture because it is all the same stuff. There's nothing new. It's centuries old and it's the same stuff. Prostitution, homosexuality, or all kinds of sexual sin and confusion rained down upon us all the time just like it in corinth. The freedom that Christians have to preach the gospel is always being clamped just like it was in corinth, but god says, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid. Keep speaking. Keep speaking because I have many people in this city. There is nothing discouraging about this doctrine. It is the truth which sustained Paul for 18 months in his ministry, and it is the truth which will sustain us for years to come here in Kingston.

Don't be afraid. Keep speaking. I have many call in this city. So how does god step in to encourage this nervous, fearful apostle? He him great gospel friends.

He opens doors for new ministry areas, and he gives him hope that there would be many, many more to come. And I think those are encouragements that we need to hear as well. We're gonna stand and sing our last song. Oh church arise. It's a fitting 1 to finish with, a church your eyes, put your armor on and let's hear the call of Christar Captain.

Don't be silent. Keep speaking. Let's stand and sing.